6 Reasons To Outsource Real Estate Management

Given the amount of work that needs to get done in a real estate agency, ideally you want a low cost solution that also contributes to revenue generation. It may seem like a version of real estate utopia, but the truth is such solution exists in outsourcing. Here are 6 reasons why you should outsource real estate management:

1. Less Costly Option to Increase Staff

As business grows, you will eventually have to increase staff in order to delegate some of the work that needs to get done.

You options are as follows:

Hire a Full- Time Employee

Hire a Virtual Assistant

Using cost- benefit analysis, the smarter choice is to hire a real estate Virtual Assistant. First let’s look at the cost considerations:

When you hire a Full Time Employee or FTE, your costs would include:

Basic Salary

Government Mandated Benefits

Company Benefits

Incremental Cost – Internet

Incremental Cost – Utilities

Incremental Cost – Rent

Incremental Cost – Telephone

Incremental Cost – Contingencies

It has been estimated that the total cost of hiring an FTE is equivalent to 1.4 times his or her basic salary.

When you hire a real estate Virtual Assistant, your costs would include:

Actual hours worked

You could provide benefits or incentives if you want, but you are not obligated to.

Now let’s assume that your FTE’s basic pay is calculated at $16 per hour and he works 8 hours per day, 22 days a month. The estimated total cost of hiring an FTE can be calculated as follows:

You can contract the services of a Virtual Assistant for $7 to $10 per hour. By comparison, the total cost of hiring a VA can be calculated as follows:

$7 x 8 hours x 22 days = $1,232 in VA fees every month

With a Virtual Assistant, you save up to 69% in compensation costs. Please take note that we have not factored in costs of recruitment, selection and training.

Now let’s look at the benefits side.

2. Proven Way to Increase Productivity

Outsourcing real estate management work will also increase productivity in a number of ways.

First, in our previous example it showed that it would cost you $3,942.4 per month to maintain an FTE versus $1,232 for a VA. At that amount, you can hire 3 virtual assistants, outsource more tasks and get more things done.

For example, instead of hiring 1 Virtual Assistant, you can get 3 virtual assistants to handle each of the key tasks in real estate management:

Second, a VA does not have to work 8 hours every day to become productive. Since they are paid based on productivity, you can assign 3 to 4 tasks per day and have them work only 4 to 6 hours every day.

By contrast, studies have shown FTE’s only render 90 minutes of productive work every day. That’s only 19% productivity. The rest of the time left in their shift is spent surfing the net, taking water cooler and bathroom breaks. And those are paid hours!

Finally, by outsourcing work to virtual assistants you will have more time to dedicate to the essential functions of your real estate agency. You will have more time to meet with prospective clients, accommodate buyers to open houses and auctions and other matters that will grow the business.

3. Enhance and Maintain the Quality of Work

As mentioned in the previous section, administration, marketing and sales follow up are among the key tasks you should outsource to virtual assistants.

These tasks should be outsourced not only out of necessity but also to ensure the high quality of work. Virtual assistants can do this because they have the expertise, experience and time to guarantee deliverables meets or exceeds expectations.

4. Lower Risk Approach to Growing Your Business

If you want to expand your business, outsourcing is the way to go. First, it is a cost effective solution. You can hire as many people as you need to fill in all the roles your business requires.

Second, it introduces the quality of flexibility in your business. You can schedule your virtual assistants according to what you believe is the most effective way in managing your business. For example:

Third, if revenues aren’t coming in the way you expected, it’s easier to adjust the manpower schedule so you can fit in their work hours to your budget.

Fourth, every time you hire a new Virtual Assistant, you will not incur additional costs in operation. As a proprietor of the virtual assistance practice, he or she is responsible for their own cost of business.

5. Best Solution for Managing Manpower

As anyone who has hired FTE’s before knows, the challenges go beyond the actual cost of having them on your team. What challenges do we mean?

Managing employee morale

Handling employee disengagement

Attrition rate

Office politicking

Managing egos and attitudes

When you are thinking of terminating an FTE, you have to abide by the labor laws of your city state and the provisions of the employment contract. Terminating an FTE will entail the following:

Adjudication process

Payment of separation benefits

Payment of pending benefits

Recruitment, selection and training of replacement

Collectively, these obligations will break open your monthly budget. On the other hand, with outsourcing, if you are not satisfied with the performance you can simply terminate the agreement with a written notice.

You only have to pay for work that has already been submitted but unpaid for.

No need for dramas, legal paperwork and reputation management.

6. Simplifies Your Accounts Administration

When you outsource, you are delegating a series of tasks to an approved third party. Your responsibility extends only to compensating them for the work they have done. They are responsible for their own paper work. This includes payment of taxes and benefits.

Outsourcing work makes the organization of your business so much easier and worry- free.

In this technologically- driven world, outsourcing has become more convenient, efficient and effective. Incorporating outsourcing as a business development strategy in real estate management is the best solution to grow your business and ensure profitability.

Why Real Estate Agents Prefer to Outsource Rising prices of property in combination with consistently high demand from investors have established profitable conditions for real estate agents. However, increased competition and improved technology have pushed the agent to work harder than ever before to close deals. It is a conundrum that places the agent … Continue reading Why Real Estate Agents Prefer To Outsource→

How a VA Can Help Real Estate Agents Negotiate Short Sales Foreclosures are a harsh reality in real estate. Every day homeowners are faced with the possibility of losing their property. It is a dreaded situation that no one hopes to experience. An option to consider is a short sale. In order to facilitate … Continue reading How A VA Can Help Real Estate Agents Negotiate Short Sales→

Where to Find the Most Affordable Real Estate Virtual Assistants Hiring virtual assistants present several benefits to real estate agents. The level of work productivity increases because the agent is able to delegate a good number of administrative tasks to the Virtual Assistant. Quality of work also improves because the VA has the time and … Continue reading Where To Find The Most Affordable Real Estate Virtual Assistants→

Comparison Between In-House or Outsourcing Real Estate Management Managing a real estate agency can be a handful. There are many tasks, duties and responsibilities that need to be attended to on a daily basis. But considering the competitiveness of the industry, real estate agencies have to be more aggressive in their efforts to reel … Continue reading Comparison Between InHouse And Outsourcing Real Estate Management→

What Can a Real Estate Virtual Assistant Do? A career as a real estate agent can be financially rewarding. One sale can easily justify months spent closing the deal. In Australia, the median property price is $623,000. If you sold residential dwelling at that price, your commission would be $12,460. But the process of … Continue reading What Can A Real Estate Virtual Assistant Do?→

How Real Estate VA’s Can Boost Your Business Real estate VA’s or virtual assistants can do more than just assist you in administrative tasks. Properly managed, they can be a significant factor in cultivating success for your agency. Here are 9 ways real estate VA’s can boost your business: Manage Costs Cost … Continue reading How Real Estate VA’s Can Boost Your Business→

Outsourcing for Real Estate Agents Solutions As entrepreneurs, real estate agents are used to managing tasks on their own. It is part of the process of building the business from the bottom up. This arrangement is perfectly fine when starting out. But when you begin to gain traction and work gets busier, those tasks … Continue reading Outsourcing For Real Estate Agents Solutions→

6 Reasons To Outsource Real Estate Management Given the amount of work that needs to get done in a real estate agency, ideally you want a low cost solution that also contributes to revenue generation. It may seem like a version of real estate utopia, but the truth is such solution exists in outsourcing. Here … Continue reading 6 Reasons To Outsource Real Estate Management→

How To Hire A Good Real Estate Virtual Assistant The real estate process can be very tedious which leads to a number of interesting days in the life of an agent. With so many things to attend to, it can be a challenge to put order amidst chaos in an agent’s typical working day. In … Continue reading How To Hire A Good Real Estate Virtual Assistant→

How to Become a Real Estate Virtual Assistant In the old days of dial- up Internet service, virtual assistants were hired primarily to manage administrative functions. They were considered more as secretaries or personal assistants. But in the new millennium, broadband technology made the Internet more accessible and created niches in the virtual assistance industry … Continue reading How To Become A Real Estate Virtual Assistant→

What Is A Real Estate Virtual Assistant? A day in the life of a real estate agent can be quite hectic. Aside from client meetings, property negotiations and site visits, there are the usual administrative tasks to be done. A popular saying in the real estate agency business is that if you’re pushing pencils, … Continue reading What Is A Real Estate Virtual Assistant?→

More businesses around the world are outsourcing services to virtual assistants. From small- scale businesses to Fortune 500 companies, many have discovered and acknowledged why contracting virtual assistants is a good business strategy.

Virtual assistants are Internet- based professionals who are contracted to handle a specific task or set of responsibilities. They work from a remote location; usually from home and are generally considered self-employed or proprietors of a business that offers virtual assistance services.

Over the last 15 years, outsourcing has grown to become an important component in business development strategy. What was once viewed as a stop- gap measure to address cost reduction has evolved into a process that can actively contribute to revenue generation.

The exponential growth of outsourcing corresponds with increasing turbulence in the global economy. Political regimes are changing; new foreign policies are being enacted and economies are re-aligning their resources.

There is a growing trend among companies to integrate a remote staff member within their work force. In 2011, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Meyer introduced a remote worker plan where 10% of staff worked from home. A few years later Meyer increased the distribution to 15%.

While Meyer chose not to maintain the program, other companies such as United Health Group, AETNA, IBM, AMEX and Xerox started their own remote worker programs.

Contracting the services of a real estate virtual assistant can help with those non dollar productive tasks. From taking and making calls, preparing contracts, updating lists, arranging inspections and marketing.

If you can’t manage time efficiently, your productivity will suffer and ultimately affect your agency’s profitability.

There is an option that will enable you to exponentially increase your productivity.

The Virtual Assistant was once the best kept secret of successful entrepreneurs. However once Tim Ferris, Michael Hyatt and James Schramko shared how their online employees allowed them to grow their businesses, others wanted to experience the same successes as well.

But as with most professions, not every candidate who signs up can get the job done.

Increasing demand for virtual assistance work has blown open the doors of opportunity for those who want to cross over to the online profession.

If you want to maximize the benefits of outsourcing, you may want to outsource to Philippines. It has been the primary destination for global outsourcing since 2013 and its industry continues to grow at an annual rate of 20%. If you want to know “why”, here are 7 reasons you should outsource to the Philippines:

High Literacy Rate – At 98%, the Philippines has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. This is quite an achievement considering the Philippines is essentially a developing economy.